The name says where you are: Bow Mar joins Bowles Lake and Marston Lake, after pioneer farmers Joseph Bowles and John Marston. The first house went up in 1947, the town incorporated in 1958, and by the end of the 1950s the community was largely built. Many early homes followed Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style, single-story houses on acre lots along wide streets. Roughly 850 people live here today, in a town split between Arapahoe and Jefferson counties.
Wiring a 1950s prairie-style house for today
The low, horizontal lines that make these homes attractive also shape how electrical work gets done. Single-story layouts with low-slope roofs and limited attic space can make new wire runs tricky, and original wiring from the 1950s was sized for a household with far fewer appliances. When we work on one of these houses, we look for ways to add capacity while respecting clerestory windows, wood ceilings and built-ins that owners want to keep.
Common projects include replacing original panels, adding grounded circuits, rewiring kitchens and baths during renovation and converting old fixtures to LED without losing a mid-century look.
Because so much of the original wiring is now more than 65 years old, we also recommend a full safety evaluation before a sale or a big renovation. We check insulation condition, grounding, overloaded circuits and any later additions that were tied in without proper protection. The result is a prioritized list you can act on now or fold into renovation plans.
Rebuilds and major additions
Many Bow Mar homes are being renovated extensively or replaced entirely. New construction on these large lots tends to bring heavy electrical loads: radiant heat, multiple EV chargers, pool and spa equipment, detached garages and full-property lighting. Allstar works with owners, architects and builders to plan service size, panel locations and generator readiness from the start, and our design-build experience helps keep the electrical plan in step with the rest of the project. Planning conduit for future needs, such as solar-ready pathways, an extra charger or a pool house, costs little during construction and saves opening finished walls later.
Lakeside lighting and back-up power
On lakeside and wooded lots, good exterior lighting improves both safety and the view. We install path, shoreline and landscape lighting on protected outdoor circuits. A standby generator and whole-home surge protection round out the system for owners who want their home to ride through storms and outages.
The Town of Bow Mar's building permits are handled by the Columbine Valley building department. The town's non-structural permit covers changes to electrical service, while minor electrical repair and maintenance is exempt. We confirm which applies to your project and handle the paperwork.
We also serve neighboring Bow Mar South, Columbine Valley and Lakewood.